[acb-diabetics] thin people more likely to have heart attacks

[Patricia LaFrance-Wolf]

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The study, presented recently in Atlanta at the American College of
Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session, tracked 1,231 patients who had
previously experienced

at least one bout of heart failure. It is the first to assess the relation
between BMI and the risk of sudden cardiac death. 

 

The "Obesity Paradox": Bigger Girth Means Lessened Risk of Cardiac Death 

Patrick Totty

Apr 3, 2010 

 

After generations of warnings that obesity is one of the biggest risk
factors for heart failure and cardiovascular disease, a University of
Rochester study

says that it's actually skinny people who run a higher risk of sudden death
from cardiac failure. Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical
Center

in New York found that non-obese patients who suffered heart failure had a
76 percent greater risk of sudden cardiac death than obese patients.

 

The "non-obese" category included underweight, normal weight, and
overweight-but not obese-patients, based on body mass index. The study used
the clinical

definition of obesity as a BMI of 30+. Overweight was defined as a BMI of 25
to 29, and normal and underweight were defined as 25 or below. When
overweight

patients were factored out, the researchers were startled to find that
underweight and normal-weight patients ran a 99 percent higher risk of
sudden cardiac

failure than obese patients.

 

The study, presented recently in Atlanta at the American College of
Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session, is the first to assess the relation
between

BMI and the risk of sudden cardiac death.

 

Researchers tracked 1,231 patients who had previously experienced at least
one bout of heart failure. Some of them later became obese, a condition that

would seemingly increase their chance of subsequent heart failure. The study
findings showed, however, that a lower BMI was more closely associated with

an increased risk of sudden cardiac death than an increased BMI.

 

These findings, though perhaps surprising to the general public, hew closely
to something that cardiologists have known about for some time: the "obesity

paradox," in which obese patients stand a better chance of avoiding death
from heart failure than their thinner counterparts.

 

So the question for researchers is why obese people, who for years have been
considered at very high risk for stroke or heart attack, seem to enjoy a
greater

immunity to heart failure than people whose weight puts less strain on their
cardiovascular systems?

 

One tentative answer offered by researchers, who acknowledge that a
definitive answer will require more study, is simple genetics. Eric Hansen,
co-lead

author of the study and a second year medical student at the University of
Rochester, said that there may be a genetic reason, noting that obese
patients

generally do not eat well or 

exercise

 properly, and that many smoke. He theorizes that because their bodies are
already surviving bad treatment, they are more resistant to heart failure.

 

Sudden cardiac death is a condition in which the heart suddenly stops
beating. Unless the heart is restarted and the circulation of oxygen
throughout the

body is restored within minutes, the victim dies. An estimated 330,000
Americans die from the condition each year-about half of all heart-related
fatalities.

 

Cardiac arrest is attributed to abnormal heart rhythms that can be brought
on scarring from previous heart attacks or arterial blockage. In a related
study,

the University of Rochester researchers looked into the effects of BMI on
the effectiveness of implantable cardioverter defibrillators. An ICD is a
small

pager-sized unit that is surgically implanted in the chest to detect
irregular heart beats. When it detects a faulty rhythm, the device can send
a shock

to the heart to make it return to normal. The researchers found that ICDs
were most effective in people with lower BMIs.

 

* * *

 

Source:

 

As girth grows, risk of sudden cardiac death shrinks 

 

http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/index.cfm?id=2791

 

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Categories: 

Health Research, 

Heart Care & Heart Disease, 

Pre-Diabetes

 

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